Selling gold on Ebay

Hi All,
I've been buying and selling other stuff on Ebay for a while but I'd like to start selling some gold on there. Just wondering if anyone can give me a few pointers regarding postage etc. For example, I see some people offer registered post which gives you proof of lodgement but gold isn't covered by registered post insurance. Do you declare it as "mineral sample" or something similar?
I am not much of a fan of Paypal, but with the buyer protection scheme now offered through paypal, it looks like an attractive method of protection for buyer and seller. Though I see they have lots of fineprint and then they only say you "may" be covered by buyer protection. Sounds a bit vague to me!

Thanks in advance for any info,
Peter

Hi Peter,
I have been selling gold and other items on ebay since 2002, i allways offer reg post but most people opt just for regular post,
if registered is sent i mark it as a mineral specimen. my postage costs for gold is $6 this covers the padded envelope, mineral container for the gold and the postage, to reg is an extra $3, i make nothing out of postage but i do see alot try and get that bit extra by having over the top postage prices.
i have allways offered the choice of using paypal even though you get stung with their fees you are covered if you have any problems with a buyer,
i find it is a small price to pay in the case something does happen. i have over 850 feedback with only 1 neutral feedback left which was for the time it took for an item to get to USA, apart from that all my experiences with ebay and paypal as a buyer and seller have been good.
cheers
Gypsy

Thanks Gypsy,
Good to hear your experiences on this.

Regards,
Peter

Hi Peter, I have sold some nuggets on ebay and have the following tips (that you may be already on top of).

Make sure your images are very high quality.
Put a keywords list at the bottom of your listing to increase viewings. Use words like bullion coins mineral minerals minelab coiltek ingot etc.

If you offer your nuggets to Europe, US, NZ, UK, Canada etc you will need payment by PayP. Consider the charges in PP transactions, currency conversion and Fleabay costs carefully with many sizable nuggets and one ounce parcels often going for around gold price.

Also there is also little bit of blood, sweat and you time factor listing, selling and communicating on Ebay reguarly.

When considering Fleabay also consider that the bullion companies will insure nugget parcels you send them and currently pay you almost the daily spot gold price, with a modest refining charge. It may be worth considering off loading your gold to them in one go when spot gold prices are high. When prices spike you send the gold. They (lock in) pay you the gold price on the day the courier delivers the gold to them or you can gamble and choose to lock in the gold price 8 days later when they refine the gold.

Cheers Tributer

Hi all, I also sell on ebay and cannot get insurance cover on gold nuggets and specimens. I was talking to the Post Office clerk yesterday about this and he reckons that even listing as a "Mineral Specimen" it is no covered by insurance and you are wasting your money by doing so. However he also mentioned that gold jewelry is covered. Perhaps to get insurance cover we should attach a string to the nugget and call it a necklace. I think the best option would be to mention in your ebay listing that postage is not covered by insurance, that the seller is not responsible for any damages or loss once posted and just send small ammounts by regular post to save on costs. Why pay for insurance if Australia Post wont cover it anyway.
At the moment I am sending all my gold by registered post with tracking and delivery confirmation which seems to be working ok but they are sent without insurance. I probably wouldnt post large nuggets at all, smaller lots of gold nuggets are an affordable loss if they dont arrive at the other end.
cheers

Thanks for the helpful input everyone. Goldstalker, I like the idea of registering items as well. At least you have proof you have posted the item. If the buyer has used Paypal I can assume having that proof would make the claim process much more straight forward if ever an item did go astray in the post. I can't see any reference to gold or bullion in the fine print of Paypals buyer protection scheme so I guess that means they would cover the loss.
cheers,
Peter

SOMETHING WORTH REMEMBERING WHEN SELLING GOLD OR ANYTHING FOR THAT MATTER ON EBAY.THEY DONT TELL YOU THIS (or perhaps they do in the super fine print)THAT AS SOON AS YOU HAVE MADE OVER TWENTY GRAND OF SALES IN ONE YEAR ALL OF YOUR EBAY DETAILS INCLUDING YOUR BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS,YOUR PASSWORDS.ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING IS SENT IMMEDIATLY TO THE TAXATION OFFICE AND CENTRELINK .(SO BE CAREFUL SELLING FOR OTHER PEOPLE AS THE AUTHORITIES ARE ONLY INTERESTED IN YOU WHEN THIS FIGURE IS SURPASSED.(CURRENTLY IN THIS SITUATION)

totally agree with fleabay and there policy.
Dont see why anyone should be able to rip off the system.
If u r earning a sizeable amount then one would get an ABN and write off all your expenditure and purchases against your income---u basically pay no tax legally--even lease payments on a new vehicle.
Why would u be on the dole unless u are completely useless or just want to rip off the system.
If anyone is looking for work then I can surely point u in the right direction..U must have the need to get a job and travel to where the opportunity arises.
With the introduction of a Gold tax then yahooo-- Vote 1 for LABOUR----2 for Greens---and the rest of the **** heads.

Regards
Oneday69

I sold a lot of nuggets on EBAY to a German person. I had it registered international.
I sent this package 12 Aug and it arrived in Germany at DHL 22 Sep .. there it stays (or what ever) still inquiring about it to this very day 8 Oct 213 via Australia Postal investigations and Myself direct to DHL. I had to initially converse with the German Ebay site ..in the German lingo mind you and it is a head F#!#$%#. They (EBAY) wanted to close the case because it was in Germany.. NO WAY ..
Trying to deal with DHL Germany is a provobial pain in the but .. they dont get back to you and if they do it is an automated reply..
so much for their charter ......

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Just my thoughts
DOnt sell your nuggies overseas ................